Corgi book A Place to Call Home Wood Val

At only thirteen, Mikey Quinn is arrested for stealing a rabbit to feed his family. Despite his age, he’s shown no mercy by the wealthy lawyer who sends him to prison. He returns home to find that his mother has died and his younger siblings taken into the workhouse • With only his determination, Mikey makes his way to London to seek a better life for his family. Whilst there, he meets Eleanor who he recognises as the daughter of the lawyer who ruined his life. Desperate, they band together forging a new life for themselves on the streets of London • Overlooking their initial differences, the two come to rely on each other and, when the time comes to return to Hull, they face the long walk home together

For ten years, Delia has had to fend for herself and her son Jack, and as a young unmarried mother, life has never been easy. Every new coat and pair of shoes was bought with what little money she could scrape together as a singer on the stage • But when the theatre work dries up, Delia faces a dilemma: continue the search for employment with no knowing whether she’ll find the stability and security her son needs, or return to the place that should be home . . . where only spite and hatred await them • Desperate now, a chance encounter suddenly presents a lifeline. But Delia is faced with an impossible, heart-wrenching choice. Can she bear to leave Jack behind, hoping another family will care for him? Will they ever be reunited? • What else can a mother do to give her son the life he deserves? • Val Wood's wonderful historical sagas are perfect for readers of Dilly Court, Maggie Hope and Rosie Goodwin

Holderness, 1846 • For reliable, thirteen-year-old Bella, life isn't turning out quite as she'd hoped. She lives at the Woodman Inn - an ancient hostelry run by her family in the Yorkshire countryside - with her parents and siblings, but when she learns not only that her father is seriously ill, but that her mother is expecting a fifth child, her dreams of leaving home to become a schoolteacher are quickly dashed • Times are hard, and when their father dies Bella also has to take on the role of mother to her baby brother. Her days are brightened by the occasional visit from Jamie Lucan - the eighteen-year-old son of a wealthy landowning neighbour. Also grieving the loss of a parent, Jamie has more in common with Bella than she thinks • When her mother announces out of the blue that she wants to move the family to Hull, Bella is forced to leave the only home she has ever known

The new, festive novel from one of the country's favourite saga authors - if you like Katie Flynn and Dilly Court, you'll love Val's heartwarming stories of triumph over adversity • Harriet and Fletcher Tuke have worked hard to raise their children well. Daniel, the eldest son, has always accepted that his birth father died soon after he was born, and Fletcher has raised Daniel as his own • But as Daniel comes of age and begins to fall in love with childhood friend Beatrice Hart, he can't help but wonder about his heritage - his olive skin and dark eyes reminding him daily of the difference between him and his siblings, and between his and Beatrice's families. Meanwhile, shocking truths about Fletcher's own family line are suddenly brought to the surface, revealing a connection between the two families

Winter, 1860 • Rosalie has been granted a life of comfort and wealth but neither of these protects her when her mother suddenly dies • Polly has lead a life of grinding poverty; after losing her own mother, she finds herself alone on the bitterly cold streets of Hull • Then fate intervenes, bringing the two girls together when Polly takes a job as a scullery maid in Rosalie’s lonely house. The girls become unlikely friends and, when forced to leave the city behind, find themselves setting out to live with Rosalie’s uncle on the North Yorkshire Moors. Here they discover a life that neither of them has known before; though after finding momentary joy they soon learn once again that tragedy is never far away…

East Kent, 1876 • With doting parents and siblings she adores, sixteen-year-old Rose Cheevers leads a contented life at Willow Place in Canterbury. A bright future ahead of her, she dreams of following in her mother’s footsteps and becoming a teacher • Then one traumatic day turns the Cheevers’ household upside-down. What was once a safe haven has become a place of peril, and Rose is forced to flee with the younger children. Desperate, she seeks refuge in a remote village with a long lost grandmother who did not know she existed • But safety comes at a price, and the arrival of a young stranger with connections to her past raises uncomfortable questions about what the future holds. Somehow, Rose must find the strength to keep her family together

The year is 1969 and Jack Sheffield is a young teacher in need of a job • In a room full of twenty-nine other newly qualified teachers, he's overjoyed when he's appointed to Heather View Primary. Jack is excited to start his first year there and to begin shaping young minds in a beautiful new location on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales • But Heather View isn't as idyllic as it first sounds. In fact, it looks more like a prison than a primary school. With less than adequate funding and a head teacher who doesn't seem to care, it's no easy task to give the kids the education they deserve. But Jack's determined to do just that • Full of warmth and good humour, Back to School is like taking a nostalgic walk through the past to a simpler time

When shocking news reaches the History Keepers’ headquarters, Jake Djones is sent head-first into a new adventure. The time-travelling agents voyage from Shakespeare’s England to Imperial China in pursuit of their most villainous foe yet, Xi Xiang, whose aim is to destroy trade links between east and west and throw the world into war • Jake, Nathan and Topaz must join forces with international agents in a race against the clock to stop him. And at the heart of the battle lies the key to a long-lost family member – will Jake find his brother after all this time? • The past is in danger – only Jake Djones can save it!

Florrie has two of everything • Two lovely brothers • Two smashing parents • Two very cuddled pets • But two isn't always a magic number, as Florrie now has to live in TWO different houses • one with her mum . . . and one with her dad • An uplifting picture book that helps young readers embrace change and discuss their feelings around divorce or separation • Brought to you by the award-winning, best-selling author, of When the Sky Falls, Phil Earle

A sparkling summer story that's FULL of surprises! • London has not been kind to Lottie Allbright. Realising it’s time to cut and run, she packs up and moves back home – but finds her family in disarray. In need of a new place to stay, Lottie takes up the offer of a live-in job managing a local vineyard. There’s a lot to learn – she didn’t even know grapes could grow so far north! • Butterworth Wines in the rolling Derbyshire hills has always been run on love and passion but a tragic death has left everyone at a loss. Widowed Betsy is trying to keep the place afloat but is harbouring a debilitating secret. Meanwhile her handsome but interfering grandson, Jensen, is trying to convince her to sell up and move into a home • Lottie’s determined to save Butterworth Wines, but with all this and an unpredictable English summer to deal with, it’ll be a challenge

Twin brothers are reunited after twenty years of silence and blame when the prodigal son returns home • In a matter of days, Peter McDowell loses everything he has worked so hard for – including his marriage. Stripped of everything, he has only one place he can retreat to: the home he left twenty years ago • There, he comes face to face with his brother for the first time in years. At first, Peter dreads seeing Michael again – but to his surprise their reunion is tender and real. Only later, as Peter mulls over his late mother's journals, does he begin to question what lies beneath Michael's perfect surface • In a race for time, Peter throws caution to the wind to find the truth. What he discovers will change their lives, the lives of their children and an entire town for ever

Moll thought she could keep her family safe • Eighteen-year-old Moll Chambers works her fingers to the bone doing all she can to support her family. With an ailing father and a wayward mother, Moll is the only one who can look after her siblings, Bo and Sissy • But Manchester is an increasingly dangerous place to live, overrun with a ferocious rivalry between gangs of so-called 'scuttlers': young men and women bent on a life of violence and crime. And they have her brother in their sights. Soon even Moll can't protect Bo from the lure of the criminal underworld • Then the scuttlers looked her way • When she herself falls for the leader of a rival gang, Moll's choices place her and Bo firmly on opposite sides of the city's turf war • With her loyalties now torn in two, and tragedy lurking round every corner, will Moll be able to rise above the conflict and protect those she loves the most? Or will stepping out with a scuttler spell ruin for them all